Part of the Francesca's Italian chain of restaurants, the first San Diego location can be found in the Del Mar Highlands Town Center.Italian favorites are enjoyed on the restaurant's glorious patio or inside the trattoriastyle dining area. Mia Francesca's uses the Dilvella brand for gluten-free pasta specialties like the Del Pastore, sautéed with Italian sausage, garlic, white wine, sundried tomatoes and goat cheese.

Ordered the GF cake for dessert specifying GF, brought it with the non GF topping. Waitress blamed it on the new guy in the kitchen, but that is not a good excuse for those that are careful with all ordering and celiac.
Disappointing
Returned with my Nima, the GF margarita flatbread tested positive for gluten. They didn't charge for the flatbread, but did not seem concerned that the GF meal was not GF.

Francesca's is now located in Davanti's next door. They had quite a few great GF selections. I selected the octopus. It was served over potatoes and everything was so fresh and delicious! Excellent service!

Waiter had to double check if pasta is cooked in separate water (it is), so staff are not super aware. Pasta was not the best I've ever had, but not the worst either. However, dessert was DELICIOUS, I licked the plate clean. I have Celiac and did not get sick, so definitely a good stop if you're craving pasta and in the area. For sure stop for dessert, and order the Torta Lava!

I'm not celiac (FYI) but the gluten free pasta here has been tasty and I've had no issues after eating it. That said - based on the prior review, I really hope Francesca's isn't boiling the pasta in used wheat water, which entirely defeats the gluten free option.

My husband and I recently moved to the area and found Francesca's and have been very happy every time. They do have a gluten free menu and are very accommodating and helpful. Remember to ask for a GF menu before you are seated so they don't have to run back to the front and get one. The restaurant itself has a very nice atmosphere and the servers have been excellent. They know gluten free - and the food has been excellent every time!

A great place! I usually order the pasta and it's very good. They also have a lava cake, which was my favorite dessert before being diagnosed. Finding it here was a dream. And it's so amazing. The staff is very friendly and the place is nice.

Overall, the staff is very accommodating and relatively knowledgeable about gf. Lots of yummy options, and the flourless chocolate cake is TO DIE FOR. They used to have a creme brûlée with gf biscotti, but it's no longer on the menu.

wonderful Italian i usually avoid this type of restaurant as I am not confident kitchen practices will be observed. the server assured me last night when ordering that the pasta was Cooked in fresh water. fettuccine alle verdure was huge in portion size. and no reaction. in town on business or would come here often.

I got glutened. I have narrowed it down to them cooking the pasta in the same water as wheat (or gluten) noodles. What a shame. The meal was tasty. The service was very good. My suspicions were aroused when I got my meal within 10 minutes of ordering..... and confirmed a couple of hours later in a hotel bathroom. I won't be eating at Francesca's again.

What a great place. Lots of choices and you get toasted, delicious, bread as as appetizer. Awesome deserts, and yes, the deserts are gluten free. Cannot rate this place high enough. Will definitely come back in my next trip through Madison.

I thought my dinner was really good. I got the pasta with cherry tomato sauce that was great and fast. the only dessert they had was the chocolate lava cake topped with mint Gelato with fruit accents to dress the plate. it was the best gf desert I have had yet! my waiter was great too

The waitress served me the wrong entree, she insisted she was right and I was wrong. she repeatedly called me "honey". She was a condescending [email protected]$%#. So far it seems to be gluten free, but I will never go back

A REAL gluten free menu and their gluten free crust will leave you guessing if it really is GF! So good and does not represent cardboard in any way. The GF pasta is perfection as well. The manager Mike really takes it seriously and trains his staff to do the same.

Gluten free menu with almost too many options to choose from. My husband and I both enjoyed fantastic gluten free pasta dishes and flourless chocolate torte. I can't wait to come back to town so I can eat here again.

Only ok over all. They have a separate gf menu, but if you've been to other Francesca's this ones menu is a bit underwhelming. service is slow, and food is just ok. You have to keep reminding staff for gluten free when ordering each item. Probably won't come back, other better options in the area.

Ask for a gluten-free free menu. They are well prepared to cook for and serve guests with Celiac disease. The Caesar salad without croutons is the best I have ever had(before or after diagnosis). They now prepare their GF pasta dishes with fresh GF pasta (not dried). So Delicious.
Wonderful service. We eat there often.

Separate gluten free menu has prices! It's a little expensive there but the food is so worth it. You can even get cake here and it's to die for. They have separate kitchen spaces to avoid cross contamination and the staff is very knowledgeable and extremely helpful and polite.

Tried to eat here twice and both times never saw a host/hostess or bartender or anyone who offered to seat me. On my third attempt (I often stay at The Renaissance) I was greeted and seated. My server didn't seem terribly interested in taking care of me nor particularly educated about gluten allergies. I ordered a salad to be on the safe side and was just okay. Go to Flights (the other restaurant in the lobby) instead - much better food and served and more knowledgeable staff.

We've had a lot of trouble with service at this location. I've been here 3 times, and every time there have been issues with the reservations, issues with service time (i.e. sitting for a half hour without even a water order taken) and mixups by the food delivery staff. I'm done with this particular location - the Bolingbrook one and the Naperville one are much, much better.